Sermon Notes 10-11-09     

Faith Lessons:  What I Learned from Bible Stories
“The Wilderness and En Gedi:  Living Water”
 

The extremes of desert life reminded the Israelites of their need for God.  

“The Lord is my Shepherd”  

Have we spent enough time with Jesus to recognize his voice?
 

“He makes me lie down in green pastures”  

Trust God day by day.
 

“He leads me beside quiet waters”  

Jesus knows where safe water is.
 

“He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake”  

Our path of righteousness as Christians is a life-walk that heads straight to 
our Shepherd.
 

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, 
you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”  

Even when enemies surround us, he offers protection and provision.

Do you trust God to walk with you even in the wilderness?  

“O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, 
my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no
water.”                                                                                     (Psalm 63)  

“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, 
O God.”                                                                                   (Psalm 42)

Two Faith Lessons from En Gedi  

1.      Jump in.

When we feel empty and alone, we need to go to En Gedi.

2.      Be a spring to the world.

 “but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.  Indeed, 
the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up 
to eternal life.”                                                                    John 4:14

Sermon Notes for October 11, 2009
Pastor Tom VandeBerg